Social Networking Websites (“SNW”) have been increasingly popular since the advent of the Internet. Most SNW products are web based and allow users to interact over the Internet with others who share a common interest. The SNW can allow a user or a group of users to develop a web page that represents themselves to other users, such as a profile. The profile page is typically populated with information about the user of interest to the readers of a particular SNW. The information can include hobbies, interests, career highlights, social interactions, and other details relevant to the community on that particular SNW.
More recently, one profile component that is becoming common across SNW's is the endorsement feature. The endorsement feature allows a user to endorse a product, service, website, news article, blog, business, organization, or any other item or entity (collectively referred to as a “product”). The SNW can allow a user on the Internet to endorse a product that he or she would like to share with, and recommend to, his SNW community. The endorsement can display information on the user's profile page about the product, including a link to a website, pictures of a product, and marketing information about a product. The endorsement can allow the user to express his recommendation of a product and additionally allow marketing information about a product to be communicated to all of the user's SNW community.
The online websites of many products have virtual buttons displayed on the website to allow a user to endorse their product. The button can be programmed to initiate an endorsement to be sent to a particular SNW. When actuated, the button will transmit the endorsement and any related marketing information or other product metadata to the profile of the user. Additionally, the website will increment a counter displayed on the website to show the number of endorsements received for the product. Examples of a virtual endorsement feature include the “Like” button on FACEBOOK and the “+1” button on GOOGLE+. In further examples, website controls can allow a user to “like” or “dislike” a product, select “Plus 1” to indicate a favorable view of the product, “share” a webpage (or product or other information on a webpage or other electronic document), or “tweet” a favorable or unfavorable view of the product.
The current limitation of the endorsement technology is that the endorsement buttons have primarily been limited to websites or other locations on the Internet accessible by the user's online browsing. If a user chooses to endorse a physical product and share it with his community, the user would have to find a webpage for that product and hope an endorsement feature is located on the page. A common target for user endorsements occurs when a user purchases a product. A user can often want to share his selection and information about the purchase on his profile page. With an online purchase, sharing and recommending a product is as simple as actuating the endorsement feature. Unfortunately, the popular endorsement feature is not available when products are purchased at a physical merchant location.